Hello, all! I am a junior in highschool. I fence competitively, and I want to be able to continue that in college but not be tied to a university Div I/Div II team. As well, I want to major in linguistics, and go on to graduate school in Europe, eventually.Reed seems like a nearly perfect fit for me: they de-emphasize grades, have a linguistics major available (unlike many liberal arts colleges), are well known by graduate schools, and have a rather eccentric culture. As well, if I went to Reed I would be able to continue to pursue my fencing, as my current fencing club is a nigh 25 minute drive from Reed.
My grades are good; my GPA was 4.096 weighted and 3.93 unweighted as of last year; the weighted will likely increase this year and the unweighted will likely decrease. As well, I volunteered weekly at the library from freshman year through the start of junior year. I am taking both French and Japanese at my school. As well, I am learning Irish and German on my own through Duolingo. I will be going to Japan this upcoming Summer, most likely.
On the SAT, my scores were 720, 680, and 580 in reading, math, and writing, respectively. The cause of the low score in writing was from a) not finishing my essay, and b) correcting the wrong section while double checking. Needless to say, I will be taking the SAT again.
In what little free time I have, I like to pursue calligraphy, sailing, reading, and writing.
So, at this point in time, what would be my best course of action if I wanted to get into Reed?
As a Reedie would probably say, continue to pursue knowledge for knowledge’s sake and live the life of the mind!
In other words, continue to do well in school. Try to attain a higher SAT score, preferably one that falls within the 25th/75th percentile for Reed. As long as you are enjoying your extracurriculars, they look good. Much of your success at applying to colleges such as Reed will rely on your application essays. I would not worry about those until Summer, at which point you should back on this website and ask for help. Just continue to do well overall and have fun while doing so, and I’m sure you’ll have a great shot at Reed and other similar schools.
I have never heard anything about Reed’s fencing team, linguistics is small but surprisingly good, and the de-emphasis on grades is annoying your freshman year if you are in the relatively ‘big’ (17-24 students) discussion classes because it is hard to know how well you are doing (except HUM because it has ‘required’ paper conferences). For those of us who do want to know our grades, having to go through the judge-y eyes of an advisor is frankly annoying (‘Oh look, you got a B. Are you serious about going to graduate school?’ -_-)
Just keep your grades in check, get better test scores, do what you are doing in terms of ECs, and write great essays.
One of my friends say that even if I get a 4.0 in college (I’m getting a 3.8 right now) that I won’t be able to transfer because of my high school grades. Is what he said true? Even though he was trying to be honest I’ve been hearing it from many other people. That and be realistic, but these are the same people who though I shouldn’t go back to college at all unless it was for something practical. My high school grades are not very good, but I was also dealing with some family at the time. It’s so fustrating to be surrounded by people who expect me to fall. Makes me want to make sure I get into Reed. Plus, I don’t really think any of those people believe the saying “knowledge is power”, which I’ve been following ever since my senor year of high school. I think that educating yorself on as many different things as possible will lead to interesting things, but no one around me thinks like this…anyone here understand what I’m trying to say?
@AlanofTrebon : I don’t know much about transfer admissions, but I know for a fact you don’t need a 4.0 (a 3.8 by itself is amazing!). Freshman acceptance rates at colleges may not always be indicative of the corresponding ones for transfer applicants, so I don’t know whether or not Reed is a reasonable target for you. However, I can assure you that you will probably have one of the widest range of options that a transfer student can have.
Reed’s transfer acceptance rate was 14% a couple of years ago; I don’t know about the most recent numbers.
High-school grades are taken into account in the transfer admission process, but do not have to be decisive. Usually, the more time has passed since the applicant went to high school, and the more convincing their post-high school results, the less weight the admission committee puts on high-school GPA.
My high school grades were probably around 2.4-2.7 , however my college grades are 3.8 plus I get to choose most of my classes. So far most of mine have been really fun.
hey.sorry to just budge in.anyhoo i applied early decision 2 at Reed.The reply which i expected on the 1st of Feb is not in yet.Pliz help…anyone who can relate>???anyone>?
